One person: Starting with the Snow Drinking Blade

Nie Lingfeng nodded.

He sensed even more clearly than Wang Ye that the "foundation" of this frozen area beneath his feet was not stable. Deep underground, a scorching, chaotic, and malevolent energy was slowly rising, constantly impacting and dissolving the icy power he had laid down.

That energy was like underground magma, or the body temperature of some living thing—it had its own rhythm, like a heartbeat, or like breathing. Rising and falling, rising and falling, each beat carrying an unsettling pulse.

Sure enough, something extraordinary was hidden deep within this cave.

"We must leave here as soon as possible, or... find the source of the problem."

Nie Lingfeng looked at the bald bear, who was lying on the ground, still in shock.

"How much do you know about what's down there? What kind of experiments produced those insects and what's even deeper inside? What exactly is the Council doing here?"

Supported by the warmth of the crimson worms, Bald Bear barely regained some of his senses. He gasped for breath, his chest heaving violently, like a fish pulled ashore struggling to breathe.

Upon hearing this, fear reappeared on his face—a fear that wasn't feigned, but rather seeped from his very bones, even causing his pupils to slightly contract.

But looking at Nie Lingfeng's calm yet unquestionable gaze, and at the vast, white, frozen world around him—the frozen insects like rows of silent warnings—he knew he had no choice.

"I... I don't know much either, just fragmented files and snippets of information from my seniors..."

Bald Bear spoke in a hoarse, broken voice. His throat felt like it was stuffed with cotton, and he had to force out each word.

"The council... the 'Polaris Council' has a very long reach. They have secret laboratories in many parts of the world, conducting all sorts of... taboo research. This place, codenamed 'Styx,' is one of their most important bio-genetic engineering bases in the Far East."

He paused, as if recalling the contents of the files that kept him up at night.

"Their research here mainly focuses on 'biological weapons' and 'life extension'."

The bald bear's eyes revealed disgust and fear. It wasn't disgust for an enemy, but an instinctive revulsion at the fact that humans could do such a thing.

"They captured many prisoners of war, refugees, and even kidnapped people with special physical characteristics or superpowers from all over the world to conduct live experiments. They attempted to forcibly fuse animal genes, or even... gene fragments from some legendary 'non-human' beings, with humans to create super soldiers with great strength, absolute obedience, and fearlessness, or... 'new humans' who can adapt to extreme environments and extend their lifespan."

His voice grew softer and softer, as if he were talking to himself.

"Those carrion beetles were one of the early failed experiments, used to clean up experimental waste and corpses. Later, they got out of control and became a major threat to the base."

"There's also the 'Ripper,' a monster that combines the features of a Siberian black bear, some kind of mutated wolf, and a high-strength alloy skeleton. It possesses immense strength, sharp claws and teeth, and a brutal nature."

"Bone-eating bacteria are cultured symbiotic fungi that secrete strong acids and neurotoxins. They are implanted into some experimental subjects as a control measure. However, after some of the subjects die, the fungus spreads uncontrollably..."

With each suggestion he made, the expressions on everyone's faces grew more serious.

This is simply a demonic factory built with human lives and madness.

"What is it that frightens Xiaoyun in that deeper part..."

Nie Lingfeng asked the crucial question.

Bald Bear's body visibly trembled. It wasn't from the cold, but from fear. His face changed from sallow to ashen, and his lips trembled twice, as if something was stuck in his throat, preventing him from speaking.

The fear in his eyes reached its peak.

"The files mentioned a... ultimate project, codenamed 'Nidhogg'."

"Nidhogg?"

Zhang Chulan was taken aback. He had heard of this name before.

"The venomous dragon from Norse mythology that gnawed on the roots of the World Tree?"

"Yes, we're just borrowing that name."

Bald Bear's voice lowered even further, almost to the level of a whisper. He instinctively shrank his neck, as if afraid of being overheard.

"It is said that... the council obtained some extremely ancient biological tissue samples from somewhere, which may be fossils or... frozen living organisms. They are trying to extract genes from them and mix and cultivate them with the genes of humans and other powerful creatures, in order to create a... perfect ultimate life form that can be called a 'god' or a 'world-destroying weapon'."

He swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down.

"This project has been going on for many years and has invested a huge amount of resources, but it is said to have been unstable. The things created either collapse and die quickly, or become uncontrollable monsters..."

"Did it ultimately succeed?"

Master Wang Ye pressed for an answer.

"I don't know... The file ends here. It only says that before the parliament withdrew, the project seemed to have made 'breakthrough progress,' but at the same time, the most serious leak and riot incident occurred. Most of the base was sealed off, and the self-destruct program was activated... But obviously, the self-destruct program did not fully take effect; at least the following things are still 'alive.'"

Bald Bear stared into the darkness, his voice trembling, as if he had seen something he shouldn't have.

"If...if they really manage to create 'Nidhogg,' even if it's just an incomplete, half-finished product...it would be an unimaginable disaster! We...we have to get out of here right now!"

"Leave? Where to?"

Zhang Chulan looked around. Apart from the way he came—which had collapsed, and the huge, dark hole overhead, with fallen rubble piled up into a small hill—there was only endless darkness and frozen water.

"The top has collapsed, and there are monsters below. We're like rats trapped in a snare."

Just then—

Xiao Yun, who was being held by Chen Duo, suddenly began to squirm restlessly.

Her body was taut like a bowstring, her small hands gripping Chen Duo's clothes tightly, her knuckles white. Her large eyes looked in terror down to the side of the platform, at the dark water surface near the rock wall, covered by ice.

"Water...underwater...something...is moving...it's huge...it's climbing up..."

She said, her voice trembling with tears.

The sound was very soft, but everyone in the silent ice cave could hear it clearly.

Everyone felt a chill and immediately followed her gaze.

Beneath that layer of ice, in the shadows near the rock face—

The ice surface is slightly arching.

It wasn't uneven subsidence caused by melting, but rather something pushing it up from below. The ice layer resembled a piece of glass struck from behind, bulging in the middle and surrounded by fine cracks.

It looked as if some enormous thing was pushing upwards from beneath the ice!

At the same time, a dull, unsettling "crack" sound rang out. It was the sound of solid ice being squeezed and shattered by tremendous force—not a crisp "crack," but a dull "creak—" as if something was being slowly broken apart.

"Oh no! The ice is breaking! Something's about to come out from below!"

Master Wang Ye's expression changed, and the Qimen formation under his feet instantly unfolded, with the illusory image of the Eight Trigrams appearing on the ice surface.

Nie Lingfeng's eyes narrowed.

With a flash, he appeared above the ice surface that Xiaoyun had pointed to.

He looked down and, through the nearly meter-thick, slightly murky ice, he could vaguely see—

An enormous, blurry shadow is slowly writhing and stretching its body beneath the ice!

The shadow's outline was indescribable, seemingly a mixture of features from multiple creatures. It was neither a fish, nor a snake, nor any known aquatic organism. Thick, long, and covered with nodules and unidentified protrusions, it resembled a string of deformed tumors frozen beneath ice.

The part of its body that was only above water—that was just a small section—was over three meters in diameter.

Moreover, it seemed to sense the presence of living beings above. Its wriggling speed noticeably increased, and its body twisted more and more violently, as if it were rolling around in ice water. It pushed against the ice, causing it to creak and crack, and cracks spread outwards from its body like a spiderweb!

"Back off!"

Nie Lingfeng let out a low shout, and at the same time raised his right hand again, his palm gathering cold air, ready to deliver another fierce blow to the monster that was trying to break out of the ice.

however--

Just as the chilling energy in his palm was about to erupt—

"Commander Nie! Watch out for the flank!"

Suddenly, a rapid warning from Erzhuang, accompanied by static, came through the headphones!

The sound was intermittent, as if the signal might be cut off at any moment. Although deep underground, the signal was extremely weak—hundreds of meters of rock layers and groundwater blocked the way—but Erzhuang had clearly been trying to maintain contact, and at this moment he finally caught a slight signal fluctuation from below!

Nie Lingfeng felt a chill run down his spine.

Almost at the same moment Erzhuang gave the warning, he caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of his eye—

From the shadows of the rock wall to the side, a gray shadow, fast as a ghost, like a giant python without bones, shot out silently!

The gray shadow had no physical form—or rather, its physical form was merely a hazy, translucent gray-black mist. Its movement was silent, without wind, without any disturbance of the air, as if it had "grown" directly from the shadows.

It pierced straight into his back!

This gray shadow was not a physical entity, but a gray-black energy tentacle condensed to its extreme, exuding an aura of decay and death! The tip of the tentacle was as sharp as a needle, with strong characteristics of mental corrosion and physical dissolution—the air around it was slightly distorted, as if it were being burned by something unseen.